Github Desktop vs CLI

Are you a real programmer if you don’t only use the command line interface? There are some that strongly argue you will never be a real programmer if you use any Graphical User Interface, and those who simply don’t care, if it get’s the job done easily.

A little backstory

Until a couple of years ago I was a part of the first group. I truly believed that in order to become the best you can be you’ll have to master the CLI. I tried to learn any command I would have needed in order to complete my tasks. I started following all kind of tutorials. And that worked great until I encountered a slight deviation from the tutorial in my work.

By the time I introduced GitHub and version control into my workflow, I got pretty good at the command line. But when writing code for a living, having to write 2-3 commands gets tiring and annoying after a while.

GitHub Desktop

After some research (one simple google search and clicking the first result…) I “discovered” the desktop version of GitHub and installed it. I decided to give it a chance and connected my account. After a few seconds all my repositories were listed and accessible to work on. All without needing to write any command. Just a click or two and the repo was synced onto my local machine ready to go.

At the moment I happily do all my commits, syncs, branching with the desktop version. I find it very relaxing to fill a box with a comment and then click a button for a commit. I don’t have to worry about typing the command correctly and stuff like that anymore. There are times when the command line interface becomes very useful. For example when I click a button by mistake and can’t revert back whatever I did with the graphical interface. But that rarely happens.

In conclusion, as long as I can do my work with ease, I don’t really care how the job gets done. But there will always be the “true programmers” that don’t conceive using the GUI doesn’t make a lesser developer.